It began as an anonymous email. Over the past month or so, the letter - titled 'MAS, the flying buffet' - has been doing its rounds on the Internet.

Now apparently, it has caught the attention from none other than the Dewan Negara itself, once dismissed as a mere rubber stamp institution but sometimes surprises everyone by asking a few difficult questions.

Yesterday, it did just that with senators zooming in on the troubled national carrier Malaysia Airlines System (MAS) and its extravagant spending, despite chalking up losses of RM648 million in the first six months of its current financial year.

They wanted to know why three paintings - estimated to be worth RM1.55 million - were bought by MAS for its office, as well as the exceedingly high salary paid to one of the airline's foreign consultant.

Deputy Transport Minister Tengku Azlan Sultan Abu Bakar had the unenviable task of defending the once profitable state-owned airline.

According to him, the three paintings bought to decorate the MAS chairman's office was to enhance "the stature of the place".

Tengku Azlan also described the salary paid to MAS senior general manager Chris Andrews - at RM7,525 a day - as "normal".

Both of these topics - the million-ringgit paintings and the stratospheric salary of the MAS manager - were originally raised in the anonymous email. But 'the flying buffet' email contains even more salacious allegations.

The anonymous missive, believed to be written by an insider, said MAS chairman Munir Majid ordered renovations for his office on the 34th floor of the MAS headquarters in Jalan Sultan Ismail soon after he was appointed to the post last year.

The cost of the make-over was RM841,000, with kitchen equipment costing RM33,515 alone, claimed the email.

It provided the names of the contractors and the invoice numbers of the bill.

"Well, once you renovate your office for RM841,000 certainly you need some artwork to grace the office," the email continued.

Fernando Botero's paintings

He said that the MAS chairman, who was former group editor of News Straits Times , spent about RM1.55 million - a figure not disputed by the minister yesterday - to buy three paintings for his office.

Two of the costly paintings are by Fernando Botero, a Columbia artist best known for his robust, inflated forms and exaggerated human figures.

According to the anonymous email, Botero's 'Still Life With Violin' ( photo, left ) cost RM1.14 million while his other piece 'Still Life With Lobster' ( photo, below ) was bought with the sum of RM342,000.

The third painting was by Greek artist Sophia Vari, which according to the email, cost RM75,000.

It said that the paintings were acquired through an art dealer based in Bangsar.

Opposition Leader Lim Kit Siang was livid. He said the lavish spending by the loss-making state-owned company was "shocking and unacceptable".

Last night, Munir and MAS new managing director Idris Jala met senators in Parliament for a briefing on MAS in which they were told that the airline was prepared to consider selling the three paintings.

Senator Puad Zarkashi told the Bernama news agency after the meeting that MAS had also paid RM1.3 million for consultancy services.

He lamented that the ailing carrier needs RM3 billion for its restructuring and to return to the black.

Meanwhile, Lim has demanded to know whether Munir was prepared to reimburse MAS the losses in the resale of the three paintings.

He said that some members of parliament from his oppostion party, DAP, will meet with the MAS management on Friday to discuss the matter.

'Ripped off'

The anonymous email also contained a number of other allegations - that the airlines was "ripped off" by catering contractor Sky Chef, a firm linked to the prime minister's brother, and detailed how MAS spent a hefty sum for just re-designing its serving trays.

MAS recently announced its second straight quarterly loss of nearly RM368 million in the three months to September.

Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi has said that the government was willing to extend loans to MAS to help it return to profitability but ruled out a bail-out, as has happened in the past.

In 2001, following allegations of mismanagement, the government controversially bought then-chairman Tajudin Ramli's stake in the carrier for more than twice the market value, a move followed by a restructuring exercise.